32 replies to this topic

[welly_59]

anyone know where i can buy an a-z map of the glastonury area? would be really handy to miss the traffic on the main roads

[jimbo68]

anyone know where i can buy an a-z map of the glastonury area? would be really handy to miss the traffic on the main roads

Try Google maps but it won't obviously tell you what B roads will be closed though.

[NeilVJ]

Try google. With Street view you can also work out which are proper roads and which are not which is very useful

[ukslim]

anyone know where i can buy an a-z map of the glastonury area? would be really handy to miss the traffic on the main roads

Does it have to be A-Z? Their products are all listed at http://www.a-zmaps.co.uk/

Or Focus does one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yeovil-Glastonbury...n/dp/1905032242

Or buy one from a garage/services when you're close by.

Personally I think it's a *little* bit antisocial not to follow the official route once you reach it. How is it different from jumping the queue at Alton Towers?

[redmosquito]

A road map of britian will show you exactly the same as an A-Z and will show all the little back roads, its not like the surrounding area is densly populated.

But your probably better off staying on the main routes, opening the car parks early should stop the jams of last year and if everyone thought like you then the back roads would be massively backlogged. Just stick to the main routes which are set up for traffic, tune in to Worthy FM and chill out about getting there and just get excited

[welly_59]

Last year going down the back roads saved me 3 hours of queues.  I used my Google phone last year to see where I could go but it'd be a lot easier with a paper map in front of me

[ukslim]

Last year going down the back roads saved me 3 hours of queues.

Barging to the front of the post office queue yesterday morning saved me 10 minutes. If only the stupid suckers who were waiting in line were as clever as me!

[musky]

Sorry Slim, but I don't think this is really the same thing.

What if you'e heading for a West car park from the East? You're not going to follow the official route then. And of course lane changing would be a no-no. Don't even get me started on motorbikes and cycles.  

[TomfromStroud]

Barging to the front of the post office queue yesterday morning saved me 10 minutes. If only the stupid suckers who were waiting in line were as clever as me!

It's absolutely not the same thing. I've gone down backroads almost every year. It just spreads the load of the traffic heading for the site.

A better analogy would be "I was trying to go into the post office yesterday morning. There were five different doors but everyone decided to run at the same one at the same time and we all got stuck, unable to access the empty cashiers desks inside"

[tonyblair]

Barging to the front of the post office queue yesterday morning saved me 10 minutes. If only the stupid suckers who were waiting in line were as clever as me!

it's not queue jumping though, it's just using a different route.

[tonyblair]

It's absolutely not the same thing. I've gone down backroads almost every year. It just spreads the load of the traffic heading for the site.

A better analogy would be "I was trying to go into the post office yesterday morning. There were five different doors but everyone decided to run at the same one at the same time and we all got stuck, unable to access the empty cashiers desks inside"

... pretty good

[ukslim]

Sorry Slim, but I don't think this is really the same thing.

What if you'e heading for a West car park from the East? You're not going to follow the official route then. And of course lane changing would be a no-no. Don't even get me started on motorbikes and cycles.  

If you're talking about lane changing, you're still on the motorway, and you're talking about avoiding traffic which is not bound for the festival. That's fine.

What I don't think is fair, and would be harmful in general if enough people did it, is coming to the back of a queue that's made up almost entirely of festival traffic, taking a back road to avoid it, then joining the same queue nearer the gate. Assuming that the only reason the queue is there is the speed at which they can get cars through the gate, you'd only be making things better for yourself at someone else's expense.

If you're heading for the West car park from the East, the right way about it is to plan a route on major roads, that keeps a wide berth of the festival area. This affects me actually. Google Maps' suggested route from my home to the West satnav postcode leads straight through Pilton, at which point I'm bound to get embroiled in queues for the East. The solution is to put a "via" step in the route, which results in my going a couple of junctions further down the M5, and approaching the festival more directly from the West.

[ukslim]

A better analogy would be "I was trying to go into the post office yesterday morning. There were five different doors but everyone decided to run at the same one at the same time and we all got stuck, unable to access the empty cashiers desks inside"

If there are gates into the car park that could be letting cars in faster, but there's a bottleneck further away that's preventing it, then you're right.

But I think all the queues in normal years (last year was special) are purely tailbacks from the bottleneck of the carpark entrances.

[fatyeti24]

last year i headed down the M5 from the north, and approaching J23 the queue started.  the overhead matrix signs were saying to carry on down to J25 and follow the route as if from the south west.  this was an unfimilar route to me, and as such we checked the GPS on my mates mobile. some back roads were used.  i gather from those i spoke to that it saved me 4 or 5 hours sitting in the queue, though we still had a 3 hour wait to the car parks.

so am i anti social for not joining the back of the queue with everyone else, or a responsible festival goer following police advice?

either way i do not regret it one little bit.

[JimOfTheJungle]

If there are gates into the car park that could be letting cars in faster, but there's a bottleneck further away that's preventing it, then you're right.

But I think all the queues in normal years (last year was special) are purely tailbacks from the bottleneck of the carpark entrances.

This.

Surely the shortcut people eventually cut back into the main route of traffic and get waved through to the carparks along with everyone else, which is ultimately what causes the queue in the first place. If this is the case, that extra car pushes everyone back a car and is precisely like jumping the queue.  

If there are spare entrances to carparks with unused capacity just waiting for short-cutters, then i'd be very very suprised.  

[musky]

If you're talking about lane changing, you're still on the motorway, and you're talking about avoiding traffic which is not bound for the festival. That's fine.

What I don't think is fair, and would be harmful in general if enough people did it, is coming to the back of a queue that's made up almost entirely of festival traffic, taking a back road to avoid it, then joining the same queue nearer the gate. Assuming that the only reason the queue is there is the speed at which they can get cars through the gate, you'd only be making things better for yourself at someone else's expense.

If you're heading for the West car park from the East, the right way about it is to plan a route on major roads, that keeps a wide berth of the festival area. This affects me actually. Google Maps' suggested route from my home to the West satnav postcode leads straight through Pilton, at which point I'm bound to get embroiled in queues for the East. The solution is to put a "via" step in the route, which results in my going a couple of junctions further down the M5, and approaching the festival more directly from the West.

Why plan your route on major roads, when perhaps it might be quicker (if a longer distance) using smaller raods. I guess the question here is, a what point do queues for the festival start? Last year I went by car and took the A303 - well away from glastonbury there was a tail back caused by roadworks. We took another route to avoid those queues, but still ended up joining an official route quite some distance from the festival. And yes, we joined the back of another queue as we got closer.

I'm sure we've all done the same sort of thing in a supermarket. The queue you're in isn't moving, so you join the end of a faster moving queue. You've pushed in in front of nobody, but you get to the end point quicker.

[tonyblair]

so, if when I leave London, I find out that there are queues on the M4 to get to Glastonbury, and I take the A303 instead, am I queue jumping?  

[DrWackadoodle]

Don't even get me started on motorbikes and cycles.  

What's wrong with motorbikes?

[Savy]

What's wrong with motorbikes?

Too right! If you don't like us overtaking you when you're stuck in your car in traffic, BUY A FECKIN MOTORBIKE  

[musky]

What's wrong with motorbikes?

Nothing, but I suppose some might consider filtering queue jumping.

I've been to Glasto three times on my motorbike. Hence the safety wink.